This is the work I’ve been doing since the very beginning of my career, and it still lights me up every time.
Over the years I’ve planned and produced hundreds of events: government functions, nonprofit fundraisers, corporate summits, and worldwide retreats and trainings, from small gatherings to thousands of people. Whatever the scale, it’s the same work: bringing an idea into form, in a room (or on a screen), in real time.
A few of my favorites include:
- Helping pull together fourteen events in four days at the Democratic National Convention — on four weeks’ notice.
- Community and political events on behalf of the Seattle Mayor, including one of the first screenings of An Inconvenient Truth with former Vice President Al Gore, the first ever National Mayor’s Climate Summit, which included former President Bill Clinton and a gathering for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi to celebrate her becoming the first woman Speaker of the House.
- International supplier summits for Boeing, and a fundraising campaign for Mercy Corps built from scratch in six weeks.
- One of my all-time favorites, a week-long conference for the Association of Space Explorers. Where Astronauts and Cosmonauts who have circled the earth at least once came together to share updates on the experiments they completed in space, discuss important issues in science and space travel, as well as spend a day visiting local schools to encourage students to consider the STEM fields as a future career.
- Worldwide retreats, seminars and online trainings for education, health, wellness and personal-development clients. The same logistics muscle, in a very different room.
From First Spark to Final Wrap:
I’ve designed and managed just about every type and size of event you can imagine, from start to finish, which means I’m just as comfortable at the idea stage as I am the day of. A typical event in my hands includes:
- Shaping the concept and vision into a workable plan and budget
- Finding and contracting the venue, or setting up the right platform for virtual and hybrid events
- Sourcing and managing caterers, vendors and other partners
- Invitations, marketing materials and RSVP management
- Décor, banquet orders and run-of-show
- Managing relationships with sponsors, venues and dignitaries
- Day-of production — and handling whatever comes up in real time
Let someone who is deeply experienced in, and genuinely loves this work, carry it. The venue contracts, the caterer calls, the seating chart nobody else wants to think about, so you can stay focused on your mission, your message and your guests.
Retreats, Trainings & Fundraisers:
Not every event I love helping create is a political gathering, corporate summit or community outreach program. I’ve spent nearly as much time in the retreat and wellness world planning local and international retreats and workshops, launching online courses and trainings (at least five every month), helping personal development educators along with health, sound and breathwork practitioners bring their in-person and virtual gatherings to life. I’ve also raised funds the old-fashioned way, from a school’s first-ever fundraising event to an international nonprofit campaign I conceived and built from scratch in six weeks flat.
If you’re leading a retreat, training or fundraiser and want someone who can hold the spreadsheet and the spirit of the thing at the same time, that’s exactly where I come in.
What ties all of it together isn’t the size of the room or the world it’s in, it’s the same thing that shows up in every part of my work: a sense for what a moment needs before anyone has to ask, and the calm to handle it if three things go sideways at once.
Have an event that needs someone who’s done this before? I’d love to hear how I might be able to help.
